“You can’t ignore what’s going on in the outside world,” Lester said. “You don’t want to upset kids and you don’t want kids to be afraid of things, but you can’t ignore it.”

Weiss said that helping parents talk to their children about tragedy, and providing professional help when needed, is the district’s current focus. On the district’s website, parents can find tip sheets from the Psychological First Aid Field Operations Guide on how to speak to kids of all ages about disaster. Weiss said that while he has sent similar resources to parents via email, at the advice of professionals, the district is not running any special programs for students in response to the shootings.

“I think we’re all on a little bit of an emotional edge,” he said. “That’s why we’re really trying to be as normal as we can about school.”